The Japan Times: July 1, 2005 (C) All rights reservedhttp://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fe20050701se.htm

MATSUO BASHO
Walking the path of a legendary poet

By SUMIKO ENBUTSU

A 1830s woodcut print is the image of the great haiku poet Matsuo Basho (1644-1694), rendered by Hasegawa Settan (1778-1843).
Depicting a legendary scene in which the poet was inspired to pen one of his masterpieces, Basho is seated at his writing desk in a humble cottage thatched with straw. A brushwood fence in the foreground on the right-hand side, moss-covered stepping stones in the garden, a pond overgrown with reeds, and stark surroundings suggested by thick horizontal lines in the background, all combine to conjure up the image of a hermit in seclusion from worldly concerns. Pausing in his work, the poet casts a glance at the pond and sees a frog leap into the water, creating ripples. This was the birth of his famous haiku:

"Listen! a frog, Jumping into the stillness, Of an ancient pond!"
(Translation by Dorothy Britton).

In 1680, Basho moved to Fukagawa on the east bank of the Sumida River to escape the din and bustle of Nihonbashi, near the center of the city, where he had lived for nine years. In those days, Fukagawa was a sparsely populated piece of reclaimed land beyond the boundary of Edo City.

With no bridge yet built on the Sumida, boats plied busy waterways during the day, but early in the morning and evening silence prevailed in the area and Basho could hear the gongs of temple bells ringing in Ueno and Asakusa, 4 km away. Nearby was a Zen temple, Rinsen-ji, where he was admitted to practice meditation. The whole set-up was to his taste and met his needs so Basho made Fukagawa his base in Edo until his death in 1694. It was from here that he struck out on his many travels.

He was especially pleased by a banana tree planted in the garden and used the plant name, basho, to call his cottage Basho-an. He also changed his pen name from Tosei to Basho. The plant, which had been introduced from China for medicinal purposes and to get fiber for weaving, was probably loved for the sound it made when raindrops pattered.

Our exploration of Fukagawa starts at Kiyosumi Shirakawa Station on the Hanzomon and Toei Oedo lines. Leaving the station via Exit A1, make a U-turn right to reach Mannenbashi bridge, passing the Oguruma-beya sumo stable along the way (marked by a sake keg at the front door). You might see young wrestlers out on the street after morning training.

Let us hurry to cross the bridge and look for Basho Inari-jinja shrine on a lane to the left. Though dedicated to Inari, the god of rice harvest and business prosperity, the shrine is a Tokyo Metropolitan Government-designated historic site that commemorates Basho's abode.

As Basho moved twice within Fukagawa, and the whole area underwent drastic changes in land ownership in modern times, the exact locations of all the Basho-related sites were forgotten and became difficult to determine. However, when a large tsunami hit the area in 1917, a stone frog was discovered at this spot, suggesting the possibility that his last cottage stood here, especially as the poet had a fondness for the amphibian.

Local citizens then decided to dedicate a shrine to his spirit as well as to the Inari god whose shrine was marked here on the old area map. As the original wooden building was burnt down by the 1945 air raids, they built a new one in concrete.

The poet is honored by another, more modern memorial nearby. At the end of the lane, a pocket-size park is tucked away behind a wooden gate and short flights of rugged stone steps. Ascending to an airy terrace on the very edge of the Sumida, visitors would hold their breath at the sight of Kiyosubashi Bridge straddling the broad expanse of the river water as boats passed by underneath it, with their white wakes. A bronze statue of Basho on a pedestal is installed at the center of the platform, surrounded by bamboo, banana trees and other plants that sway in the wind, as well as reproductions of Basho-themed old sketches.http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fe20050701se.htm

After moving to Fukagawa, Basho wrote:

For nine springs and autumns, I lived austerely in the city. Now I have moved to the bank of the Fukagawa River. Someone once said,
"Since of old, Chang-an has been a place for fame and fortune, so hard for a wayfarer empty-handed and penniless."
Is it because I'm impoverished myself that I can understand this feeling?

On the 12th day of the 10th lunar month of 1694 (25 November, Gregorian), Basho, the founder of haikai and haiku as we know them today, died. He was at a stopover midway on yet another journey, in Osaka, and attended by a number of disciples. Still observed according to the lunar calendar, which varies considerably from year to year with respect to the Gregorian, the date is associated with the characteristic early WINTER DRIZZLE. In Japanese the name of an important figure followed by ki means the person's death anniversary. In English, we have sometimes used "remembered" to suggest this... In haikai the Master's Day or Master's Anniversary (okina no ki 翁の忌) always refers to Basho's Day."Haiku World: An International Poetry Almanac by William J. HigginsonQuoted from Vanpire13

Basho’s Death
It is generally held that Basho died at the Saru-no-Koku (around 4 o’ clock in the afternoon) on the 12th day of the Kamina-zuki (October according to the lunar calendar) of the 7th year of the Genroku Era, or 1694. He was taken ill on his last journey in Osaka and came to the end of his 50 years of life at the house of Hanaya Nizaemon in Minami-Mido-Mae, watched by many of his disciples who hurriedly assembled at his bedside. (The equivalent date of his death according to the solar calendar is 28 November.)

(Note)
There are not a few discrepancies in the Japanese kigo in terms of regional differences (space) and historical changes (time). The discrepancies caused by the change of Japanese national calendar from the lunar to solar system in 5 Meiji (1972), when 3 December was designated 1 January 1973, are the most pronounced. Even today, there are still a lot of cases of confusion in the use of these season words and those relating to the dates of death of famous literary figures are no exception. In many cases both lunar calendar date and solar calendar date are used interchangeably, though in some cases such as that of Ariwara-no-Narihira (date of death: 28 May 880 under the lunar calendar) the same date of the lunar calendar is used to celebrate his anniversary of death even under the solar calendar (i.e. 28 May).

In the case of Basho-ki, the practice is presumably mixed in the sense that some poets use the same date of the lunar calendar (12 October) even if it means that it is more than a month earlier than the precise equivalent of solar calendar (28 November). 12 of October in Japan could still be warm or even hot in some places while 28 of November could be very cold and this would give a totally different perception about the circumstances of Basho's death.

.. .. .. Basho-ki

The day of Basho’s death has been celebrated since soon after he died, and has been given various names of which Basho-ki is the most well-known. Other names include: Shigure-ki, Shigure-e, Okina-ki, Okina-no-hi, Tosei-ki, Basho-e. These are all used as kigo (early winter).

Basho-an-Kobunko, which was edited by Fumikuni and published in 9 Genroku (1696), has a memorial haiku by the editor himself:

Basho-e to moushi-some-keri zo no mae

we have started
to call it Basho-e
before his statue
Some examples of Basho-ki haiku:

quote
In Kareobana 枯尾華 (Withered Plumes of Grass, 1694), his moving account of Basho's last hours, Kikaku mentioned that there were now more than twothousand disciples all over the country.
The number kept increasing, even after Basho's death, as everyone who had ever joined in making haikai poetry with even the least important of the original disciples proudly claimed to be a disciple himself. This naturally annoyed the 'direct disciples' (who probably numbered no more than sixty), and one threated to denounce all imposters.World Within Walls
Donald Keene

7 comments:

Anonymous
said...

feeding on Old Basho's legs... evening cool

bashoo-oo no sune o kajitte yuisuzumi

.芭蕉翁の脛をかじって夕涼

by Issa, 1813

In Issa's time, the great poet of haiku, Bashoo, was called the "old man" as a term of respect and endearment. Shinji Ogawa points out that this haiku contains the idiom, sune o kajitte, which literally means, "feed on someone's leg," but metaphorically denotes "sponging off someone or living at someone's expense."

In this scene, Issa is the mosquito feeding on "old man Basho's legs." At the time of the haiku's composition (1813), Issa's "inheritance dispute was settled" and "his status as a haiku master was well-established."

“The basis of art is change in the universe.” (This aligns directly with the Buddhist concept of impermanence; Bashō is placing this concept at the center of all art.)

“The secret of poetry lies in treading the middle path between the reality and the vacuity of the world.” (Buddhism is known as “the middle path,” and “vacuity” alludes to the concept of emptiness.)

“Once one’s mind achieves a state of concentration and the space between oneself and the object has disappeared, the essential nature of the object can be perceived. Then express it immediately.”

“When you are composing a verse, let there not be a hair’s breadth separating your mind from what you write. Quickly say what is in your mind; never hesitate for a moment.” (Allen Ginsberg restated that as “First thought, best thought.”)

“Composition must occur in an instant, like a woodcutter felling a huge tree, or a swordsman leaping at this enemy.”

“One needs to work to achieve enlightenment and then return to the common world.”

Sekiguchi Basho-AnAt first, it was called “Ryu-in-an”, used as a house, where the most famed “Haiku” poet, Matsuo Basho lived when he involved in a water conservancy project of Kanda River there(1677-1681). Around 1726, it was renamed into Sekiguchi Basho-an and started to enshrine the statue of Matsuo Basho and his disciples. Also some of his hand-written documents were placed there in 1750.

Through its long history, having been damaged by World War II, it was destroyed and fixed up again by the Japanese Government. Sekiguchi Basho-an now is both an important historic site with traditional Japanese garden and the cultural association of Matsuo Bashou to reserve and maintain his pieces and heritage.

Reading some Haiku poems written by Matsuo Basho and going to Sekiguchi Basho-an, you may fully experience the artistic conception and realize the emotions performed in Basho’s Haiku works, as if returning to the era centuries ago. .http://guidebook.ginza.kokosil.net/guidebook/tokyoguide.cgi?ucode=00001c000000000000010000020069f2.